Sadhguru at IIT Kanpur – Youth and Truth [Full Talk]

Instrumental music… Sadhguru: This is going to be a lot of trouble for me once it goes out, but I'm telling you because you are young people. So, you should look at my life, I have changed my personality many times, significantly. Instrumental music… Speaker: And now, it is my pride and honor to welcome Sadhguru (Cheering/Applause), the one, the only, the lone motorcyclist across 27 nations, through 70 days of being on road, riding through inclement weather and harsh terrains. Sadhguru arrived in India, in Jamnagar, Gujarat on 29th of May. Since then, he has been traveling through towns and cities of Gujarat and Rajasthan to Delhi, to Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, and now he's here with us at IIT Kanpur today (Cheering/Applause). We hand over the stage to Varad, Shreya, and Mutasim (Applause). (Sadhguru's Presence) Interviewer (Mutasim): So, welcome Sadhguruji. Sadhguru: Mhmm (Indicating agreement). Interviewer (Mutasim): It gives me immense pleasure on behalf of the entire IIT Kanpur community to welcome you here. Thank you so much for taking your time out, coming here. Ever since the campus has received news of your arrival, we've received thousands of questions, we've been flooded with questions, and we've spent quite some time deciding on selecting questions which cover the most ground. To begin with… So, there have been the Save the Soil volunteers – we've seen them around campus for the past few days. We just saw an incredible video of the entire campaign. And, the fact that you're traveling 30,000 kilometers on the motorcycle across continents, through European winters, through Middle Eastern summers, I imagine it… it must be quite strenuous – I saw this video where there are people surrounding you and they're trying to touch your feet – and risky as well. So, the question that came up was, in this era where there are avenues for mobilizing the youth through social media, through the internet, what is the significance of you physically taking a motorcycle, taking this risk, and riding 30000 kilometers? Sadhguru: Namaskaram and… Well, last 30 years I've been talking about soil in its… variety of ways. I have spoken to ministries, heads of state, various responsible people, youth. Everybody says, "Sadhguru, this is fantastic. Sadhguru, this is great what you're saying, what you're doing," and then they go to sleep (Few laugh). So, I've been looking at what to do to wake up these people because they're capable of sleeping through a war. Yes. Because, especially in India, since 1947, whatever wars have happened, because of the efficiency of our forces, wars have remained only on the borders. But, I've been talking to many people, they believe wars are fought only on borders (Laughs). No. War is kept at the border because of the efficiency of our forces. If they are not good, it will be here in Kanpur. Hello? So, people have become like this. They're able to sleep through just about anything. Is sleep a crime? Hello? Is sleep a crime? No. Sleep is not crime, but if you sleep through your life, you will be a disaster, and disasters are worse than crimes, usually. Crime affects a few people, disaster wipes out civilizations. So, right now we are facing that kind of a disaster, a possible disaster, if we don't do the right things. And if, we walk into it, many of us will not walk out of it, for sure. So, it's extremely important that we mitigate the disaster, we turn back before we enter that disastrous space. So, as I said, 30 years I have been talking about it, demonstrating it in so many ways with large-scale projects, all you get is silly questions. Even now, you're talking about 30,000 kilometers. "How much carbon monoxide does your vehicle produce?" This is the question they get, and they're going in that tuk tuk tuk auto rickshaw that produces 8 to 10 times more carbon dioxide than my motorcycle, which is Euro 6 (Laughs), all right? I'm saying, this is the kind of silly conversations that'll go on. So I thought, I had to do something to wake them up. Can I walk 30000 kilometers? I will die for sure. If I cycle, most probably I'll die. Motorcycle, I could die, but I didn't. I could have, that they don't understand. The people are even talking about, "You're riding a luxurious motorcycle." The idiot has no idea what is two wheels. (Laughs) There is no luxury on a motorcycle – it's backbreaking, all right? But, they think it is luxurious motorcycle. Like this. Why… Why I'm saying this is, I'm not concerned about these things, but unfortunately this is the level of understanding people have. How do you wake them up? So, if I drive a car, they won't wake up. If I fly around, they won't wake up. So, I thought motorcycle is dangerous enough, it could kill me, but it didn't, so it's okay (Laughs). So, I had to choose that kind of a means which is dangerous, because I don't hold any office – I'm not a minister, I'm not a chief minister, I'm not a prime minister, I don't wear any military uniform or anything to have any kind of authority over anybody. The only thing is, millions of people, the love and respect they hold for me, I thought I will challenge that by risking my life. Because I put my life out there, and they saw videos where it could be really risky… They haven't seen everything, it'll come out slowly because they have… people have no time to edit, they've been simply shooting things. When they see that, they will realize that this was not a joke, this was not some joyride. This is… This event, right now in IIT Kanpur, is my 532nd event in… from March 21st (Applause). I want you to imagine how many hours of work that is. When I'm riding, almost all the time I'm talking to media, interviews, social media, influencers, all kinds of things. And when you're talking a serious subject and riding, trying to get to the next event all the time – is not a joyride and it's terribly risky. So, the idea of risking my life was, at least that should wake them up, and fortunately it has. Till today, over 2.5 billion people have spoken about soil since 21st of March, which has never happened in the history of this world. It's not happened – 2.5 billion people talking about soil. When I started in London, the day before I started, a lady journalist was interviewing me and said, "Sadhguru, why soil? Who will ever support you? Why are you choosing something so unromantic? At least fix the sky, you know (Few laugh)? Do something, not soil. Who will ever be inspired by soil?" Well, people have been inspired by soil, and 2.5 billion people have responded, 74 nations are on board, remaining nations are all looking at the policy. And in India, we have signed MoUs with all the states that we have passed through – Gujarat, Rajasthan, UP, and of course, with the Prime Minister – the Central Government is moving in that direction. So right now, I have no doubt that the world will move in this direction. Right now, the concern is only